View Important Policies and System Requirements for this course
Interested in registering 5 or more engineers for a course? Contact us for information and rates.
INSTRUCTORS:
Jason Kean, Ph.D.
Gregory B. Baecher, Ph.D., NAE Dist, M.ASCE
Manoochehr Shirzaei, Ph.D., M.ASCE
Dr. Khaled Chowdhury, Ph.D., M.ASCE
Purpose and Background
These presentations were recorded at the Geo-Institute Web Conference 2025.
Postfire Debris-Flow Processes and Hazard Assessment (23 minutes)
This presentation examines the physical processes that govern postfire debris flows and the factors that control their initiation, magnitude, and impacts. It explains how wildfire alters soil properties, vegetation cover, and hydrologic response, significantly increasing susceptibility to runoff-generated debris flows and shallow landslides. The speaker discusses rainfall intensity–duration thresholds, burn severity, slope conditions, and sediment availability as key drivers of postfire hazards. Examples from recent fires across the western United States illustrate how debris flows differ from conventional flooding in terms of mobility, peak discharge, and destructive potential. The presentation also introduces USGS methodologies for rapid hazard assessment and mapping immediately following wildfire events. Emphasis is placed on how these assessments support emergency management, infrastructure protection, and public safety decision-making.
A Socio-Behavioral Compartmental Model for Wildfire Response (26 minutes)
This presentation introduces a novel socio-behavioral modeling framework for analyzing human response to wildfire events using crowdsourced and social media data. Drawing on compartmental models commonly used in epidemiology, the approach captures how awareness, concern, evacuation behavior, and recovery sentiment evolve spatially and temporally during wildfire emergencies. The speaker demonstrates how natural language processing and sentiment analysis can extract actionable information from large-scale social media datasets in near real time. Case studies from major wildfire events illustrate correlations between online activity, fire progression, and community response. The presentation highlights how these data-driven insights can complement traditional monitoring systems and enhance situational awareness for emergency responders. Limitations, uncertainties, and ethical considerations of using social media data are also discussed.
Vertical Land Motion as a Hazard Multiplier: Amplifying Exposure and Vulnerability to Extreme Events (22 minutes)
This presentation explores vertical land motion, particularly land subsidence and uplift, as a critical but often overlooked factor that amplifies the impacts of extreme events such as flooding, storms, and seismic loading. The speaker explains natural and anthropogenic causes of land subsidence, including groundwater extraction, sediment compaction, and tectonic processes. Using satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), the presentation demonstrates how high-resolution deformation measurements can be obtained across large geographic areas. Case studies from U.S. cities, coastal regions, airports, and embankment dams illustrate how differential land motion increases infrastructure vulnerability and flood risk. The presentation emphasizes the role of continuous monitoring in identifying early warning signs of infrastructure distress. Applications for risk-informed asset management and infrastructure resilience planning are highlighted.
Evolving Approaches for Seismic Reliability and Safety of Embankment Dams and Levees (37 minutes)
This presentation reviews recent advances in seismic reliability assessment and safety evaluation for embankment dams and levees. It discusses the evolution of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seismic criteria, including updates to consequence-based performance objectives for functionality and life safety. The speaker compares U.S. practices with international approaches from countries such as Japan and Australia, highlighting differences in acceptable damage, return periods, and operational expectations. Limitations of traditional simplified seismic analysis methods, including pseudo-static slope stability and liquefaction triggering approaches, are examined. The presentation also addresses the growing role of nonlinear dynamic analysis in evaluating embankment performance. Emphasis is placed on ensuring post-earthquake operability of critical appurtenant structures necessary for reservoir control and public safety.
Benefits and Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of these sessions, you will be able to:
- Explain the mechanisms of postfire debris-flow initiation and the approaches used to assess and map related hazards.
- Discuss how socio-behavioral modeling and social media data can be used to assess public response during wildfire events.
- Identify how vertical land motion acts as a hazard multiplier for infrastructure and extreme event impacts.
- Describe evolving seismic design and evaluation approaches for ensuring the safety and functionality of embankment dams and levees.
Assessment of Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes are assessed and achieved through passing a 10 multiple-choice question post-test with at least a 70%.
Who Should Attend?
- Geotechnical Engineers
- Engineering Geologists
- Road Designers
- Practitioners
- Geosynthetic Manufacturers
- Contractors
- Graduate Students
How to Earn your CEUs/PDHs and Receive Your Certificate of Completion
To receive your certificate of completion, you will need to complete a short post-test online and receive a passing score of 70% or higher within 365 days of course purchase.
How do I convert CEUs to PDHs?
1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs [Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 PDH]